Going to school in California in the early 1940s, Charles Huppert, a trained pilot, tried to join Britain's Eagle Squadron, which was recruiting American pilots in days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. But he was persuaded to join the Army Air Force. One of his first missions in a B-25 was over North Africa, and he had to crash land near Tunis after taking heavy enemy fire. As a prisoner of the Germans, Huppert made several stops (including one escape attempt) before reaching his ultimate destination, the POW camp Stalag Luft III, site of the Great Escape in March 1944. He details how plans were hatched for this intricate operation, maintaining that POWs had their own kind of war to fight, even if they were no longer armed with guns and bombs.